Slightly Stoopid's C-Money blows his horn at KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas at GIbson Amphitheater in 2008. JOSHUA SUDOCK, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Miles Doughty of Slightly Stoopid connects with the audience at the Pacific Amphitheatre in 2008. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Miles Doughty of Slightly Stoopid performs at the Pacific Amphitheatre in 2008. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Kyle McDonald of Slightly Stoopid performs at Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa in 2008. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Kyle McDonald of Slightly Stoopid moves the audience with reggae sounds at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa in 2008. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Kyle McDonald of Slightly Stoopid performs at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa in 2008. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ryan Moran of Slightly Stoopid performs at Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa in 2008. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Bass player Kyle McDonald of Slightly Stoopid performs at Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa in 2007. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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San Diego-based group Slightly Stoopid headlines the Legalize It Tour with Cypress Hill at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine on July 16. PHOTO COURTESY OF SLIGHTLY STOOPID

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San Diego-based group Slightly Stoopid (from left to right: Miles Doughty, Oguer 'OG' Ocon, DeLa, C-Money, Kyle McDonald and Ryan 'RyMo' Moran) headlines the Legalize It Tour with Cypress Hill at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine on July 16. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

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San Diego-based group Slightly Stoopid headlines the Legalize It Tour with Cypress Hill at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine on July 16. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

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San Diego-based group Slightly Stoopid headlines the Legalize It Tour with Cypress Hill at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine on July 16. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

With California Proposition 19 (the marijuana legalization initiative) officially appearing on the ballot Nov. 2, rock-reggae act and avid marijuana supporter Slightly Stoopid is taking a stand in support of the issue with its 24-date Legalize It 2010 Tour.

“I think the whole negative outlook (on pot) is silly,” vocalist Miles Doughty says. “You can go to the store and buy as much booze as you want, and it gets taxed. I think that’s way worse than marijuana. If they passed that bill and taxed (marijuana), they would generate so much money for the state. If I was a politician or a judge running California, I would have passed this a long, long time ago.”

Doughty doesn’t plan on running for office anytime soon, however. He and his San Diego-based crew are currently enjoying their turn as the latest Southern California band to break big out of the local scene, enabling them to tour consistently with artists ranging from Snoop Dogg and 311 to reggae veterans like Yellowman and various Marley brothers.

“We just thought: ‘Who better to come out and play this tour at this time than Cypress Hill?’” Doughty says. “They had a new album out (Rise Up, which dropped in April), and with the whole marijuana issue on the ballot in November, we knew they’d be cool because everyone on this tour is (for) the marijuana initiative passing.”

B-Real (pictured), one of Cypress Hill’s two MCs, would like to see legalization and taxation of pot on a state and national level. Known for its weed use on stage and off, the seasoned hip-hop group has learned through extensive touring which states to lay low in.

“The only place we flat-out won’t go right now is Arizona because of the immigration laws,” he said during a recent phone interview. “We are very careful going into zero-tolerance states. Why would we go there in the first place? I don’t know, but everybody has to get their dose of entertainment, so we just kind of roll through and aren’t so blatant about it -- and hopefully we can slide through without any problems.”

Should they get into any trouble with law enforcement, B-Real already has his explanation down: “Uh, we’re not Cypress Hill … we’re somebody else. We’re Justin Bieber’s security guards.”

That said, weed will undoubtedly be shared during downtime on this outing; both groups plan on packing a substantial supply. B-Real says he likes to conserve on the road yet finds his stash disappearing rapidly anyway: “Mine is diminished quickly because I share with everyone. I’m not a holdout by any means.”

Along with disappearing herb, numerous other items also seem to walk away on their own.

“So much stuff gets lost on tour,” B-Real says. “We’ve lost favorite jackets, jewelry, shoes … our minds. The worst is the herb. You might lay it down or take your eyes off of it for one second and the next thing you know someone has it in their pocket. Or maybe you’ve had a stoner moment and you just forgot where you left it. But it’s always easier to accuse someone of stealing it than admitting to yourself that you lost it.”

While on the road, Slightly Stoopid has been toying with new material and plans on heading into its San Diego recording studio after this tour to work on the follow-up to both its 2007 release Chronchitis and 2008’s collection of new and re-recorded material, Slightly Not Stoned Enough to Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid.

Cypress Hill’s latest, on the other hand, is its first release in six years. With the ever-changing music scene, B-Real and his mates -- rapper Sen Dog and DJ Muggs, plus percussionist Eric Bobo -- have realized they just can’t be out of the game that long.

“If you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind,” he says. “We’re definitely not going to wait another six years to put out a record. I would hope for a two-year process -- anything longer than that these days and it’s just too long.”

Setting the pressures of the industry aside, both Slightly Stoopid and Cypress Hill say they’re ready for a good time on this tour. Both are excited to come out of the gate near their hometowns.

“You wanna put on a good show no matter what,” Doughty says. “But when it’s your own crowd, it gets as crazy as it can possibly get because everyone you know comes out, even your family. There’s nothing like the hometown love.”

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